


Shallow

by Marzos



Category: All For One (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, PORTIANA
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-16
Updated: 2016-03-16
Packaged: 2018-05-27 01:22:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6263947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marzos/pseuds/Marzos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ariana thought Portia was a complete airhead, but she was nice, and she needed help in calculus. </p><p>Or: Ariana is judgemental, Portia needs a tutor, and Ariana learns she may have been wrong about her. </p><p>(how they got together)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shallow

 Everyone who knew Ariana was shocked when she decided to join a sorority; she was a loner by nature, a fact she had no problem admitting. Sororities were not exactly the place for lone wolves. But, Ariana was also smart (which she had even less of a problem admitting), and sororities were good for job prospects, and good for assuring her parents that she was _not_ going to end up joining a cyber terrorist organization.

 

So, Greek life it was.  Ariana went to all the events, and she wasn’t putting herself in the middle of everything, but she put herself out there enough--and her grade point average spoke for itself. She had no problem getting a bid for Mu Sigma Theta.

 

They held a little party for all the new members to get to know each other. Ariana went, mostly because they promised ice cream and implied alcohol--and the only thing better than ice cream and alcohol was both of them _together._

 

She was standing around the fringes of the mass of people, dark eyes scanning the crowd for--she wasn’t sure exactly, actually. Just something that caught her attention while she nursed a bowl of chocolate ice cream.

 

Well, something caught her attention, but she didn’t see it first.

 

“Hello!”

 

Ariana turned toward the voice, and stood face to face with some girl who seemed...kind of familiar.

 

“Uh...hi?”

 

She was beaming at her. And had another girl standing at her side, following her friends lead and smiling.

 

“You’re...Ariana, right?” She asked.

 

“Oh, yeah, I am,” Ariana raised her shoulders; she would’ve waved but her hands were full. As if it was possible, the girl’s smile spread even wider. Her teeth were so white they were almost blinding.

 

“I thought you were! I’m Portia,” she held out a hand to shake Ariana’s and, realizing she had miscalculated, sort of grabbed the ice cream bowl along with the hand and pumped it a few times vigorously. “And this is my friend Alex. We’re pledges too--I mean, obviously, we’re at the party for new members! But you’re also in my math class?”

 

Ariana blinked, chin raising a little in recognition. She fought the urge to groan. Right. _That_ girl.

 

“Sure, I remember you.”

 

She’d seen her from a distance, sure, but from what she saw...Portia was always taking selfies. And laughing. She had an annoying laugh. Everything about her from the selfies, to the way she dressed (at the moment, she was wearing an oversized pink sweater) screamed ‘dumb blonde’. Even if she was brunette.

 

“Oh, cool!” Portia gushed, “I hope we can all be really good friends then--Alex, come on. Say ‘Sigmas!’”

 

Before Ariana even registered what was happening, Alex and Portia had pulled her into a selfie.

 

“Insta’d,” Portia stated, slipping her phone in her pocket, “Alex, I’m going to get ice cream, you want anything?”

 

“No, I’m good,” Alex answered.

 

Ariana liked her immediately. Maybe it was just comparative to Portia’s manic happiness, but Alex radiated calm. She raised an eyebrow in her direction when Portia skipped off.

 

“You look a little dazed,” Alex observed, amused.

 

“I don’t think we’ve ever spoken before.”

 

“That doesn’t really stop her,” Alex answered, laughing, “social events are kind of Portia’s element.”

 

She looked in Portia’s direction, and Ariana followed; she had a whole crowd around her, laughing their asses off at whatever she must have said. Ariana wasn’t surprised that she got herself a bid.

 

She was _also_ a total airhead. Talking to Portia personally only confirmed it for her. If there was one thing that Ariana couldn’t stand, it was shallow people. Even if they were cute.

* * *

 

 

Ariana always preferred math to English. Math was either right or wrong; there were no several right answers to a math equation. She liked nice, direct things. Especially the challenge getting there. It also helped that she was really, really good at math too…

 

She sat in the back during class; when Portia walked in, she flashed a warm smile in Ariana’s direction and waved before sitting up front. Ariana regarded it with a quick wave back. Portia was nice, even if she was dense. Ariana wasn’t going to be rude to her.

 

Class ended, and Ariana grabbed her books; she wanted to stop by the library before her next class--

 

“Hey, excuse me, Ria?”

 

For a second she didn’t realize it was directed at her, because no one had ever called her ‘Ria’ _ever_ , but when Portia was standing in front of her and staring expectantly, she got the hint.

 

“Yeah…?”

 

Portia smiled; she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

 

“You were really good.”

 

Ariana frowned slightly in confusion.

 

“I mean--you know, in class! You’re always raising your hand. And you get everything right. You’re really good at calculus.”

 

“Thanks,” Ariana said, shrugging. It wasn’t a big deal; she knew the answers, she raised her hand the most.

 

“Do you think maybe you could help me?”

 

Ariana blinked. “Wait. You mean, like, you want a tutor?”

 

“Totally! I’m having a really hard time and, you know, if I let this class bring my average down too much, I won’t be able to be a Sigma. I would be _so_ grateful. Please? I know I’m asking for your time, but…”

 

She trailed off.

 

One: Portia acted like they were friends, even though they barely spoke.

 

Two: She called her Ria, and, like, no one had ever done that before. Weird.

 

Three: She was bad at math, which definitely didn’t do much to disprove her ‘dumb airhead’ suspicions. Ariana wasn’t thrilled at the thought of tutoring a Barbie.

 

But they were both Sigmas, and she needed help. Ariana was a lone wolf, not an asshole. So she nodded, pulling down her beanie.

 

“Sure. When’s a good time for you?”

* * *

 

 

The good news was they were only meeting for an hour twice a week. Ariana could handle that; although Portia did not seem like she had the longest attention span, so she would have to hope for the best.

 

Portia was already waiting at a table when she walked in, arms folded with what looked to be a tupperware container next to her school supplies. She was easy to spot, wearing an oversized sweater with a big, sequin sunflower on it.

 

“Hi, Ria!” Portia said with a big wave. Ariana sat across from her.

 

“Hey, Portia. You ready?”

 

“Totally. I even brought brownies--here,” she slid the tupperware across the table, “as a reward whenever I get a right answer. You know, as motivation? You can have whatever’s left when we’re done.”

 

Ariana smirked. “If you wanted me to help you answer the problems, giving me brownies when you get an answer wrong isn’t the way to do it.”

 

“Bring it on.”

 

They both took out notebook paper and started working.

 

“Okay, so let’s start with an easy one, and I’ll show you how to do it,” Ariana said, deciding to just get it over with. She wrote a problem down and started to work, making sure Portia’s view wasn’t blocked. She spoke slowly, going through each step.

 

“So...you factor the numerator and the denominator...that way you circumvent the indeterminate form...now there’s an x minus two on the top and the bottom, see? So you factor it out. Then you just work through the rest...and here.”

 

Portia was nodding intently.

 

“So, do you understand that Portia?”

 

She slid the paper over and Portia tilted her head slightly, brown furrowing, and her lip came out in a slight pout.

 

“...You don’t understand any of this, do you?” Ariana asked, barely suppressing a groan.

 

Portia finally looked back up. “Actually, I do,” she said, “it makes sense. Can I show you some of the problems I did in my notebook? I _know_ they’re wrong, but I don’t know _why_.”

 

“Sure, hand it over.”

 

Ariana shifted so she had her elbow on the table, flipping open Portia’s notebook.

 

The first thing that surprised her was how neat the notebook was. Ariana wasn’t sure what she was expecting; doodles all over the pages? Really bad notes? Either way, it looked really nice. It was even color coded.

 

The second thing that surprised her was that her work...well, it was _wrong,_ but...it was godawful.

 

“Wow, your notes are better than mine, first of all,” Ariana said.

 

“Thank you, that’s so sweet!”

 

“Second, I mean...you know, these are, like, really simple fixes. You’re not actually that bad at calculus.”  

 

“I’m not?”

 

“No. Let’s get to work.”

 

Ariana cracked her knuckles; Portia laughed. She grabbed a brownie from the tupperware, popping it in her mouth and moving her chair so they were sitting next to each other.

* * *

 

 

The fourth time she went to tutor Portia, she was late; talking with her professor about an assignment due kind of got away from her.

 

She actually didn’t hate tutoring Portia. She always brought snacks.

 

“Hey, Portia, sorry I’m late--you getting started without me?” Ariana asked, sweeping off her beanie and running a hand through her hair. Portia looked up from her notebook.

 

“Oh, hey Ria. No, I’m just getting some lit work done.”

 

Ariana casually strolled over and snuck a peek.

 

“‘Madness in Shakespeare’s Major Tragedies: An Analysis?’”

 

“I’m a theatre major,” Portia explained, “lit classes help a _lot,_ especially with all of the classic stuff.” She smiled. “Plus, I just think it’s _so interesting!_ I love it. I’m taking a lot of advanced courses.”

 

And that was the second indication that maybe Portia wasn’t as dumb as Ariana thought.

 

“Oh. Wow.”

 

Portia frowned--which looked really, really wrong on her. “Something wrong?”

 

“I just don’t really read for fun. I prefer math. And I definitely wouldn’t call analysing Shakespeare ‘interesting’. All I know about Shakespeare is that he had the girls dress as dudes a lot. Well, I mean, I read a lot of sci-fi I guess...”

Portia closed her book and looked at her. “Have you read ‘I, Robot?’”

 

“ _Every_ fan of science fiction has to read Isaac Asimov.”

 

“I love it!”

 

Ariana grinned.

 

“Seriously? What was your favorite?”

 

She sat next to Portia again.

 

“Shouldn’t we work on math, though?”

 

“So would you rather do calculus, or put it off and talk about robots?”

 

 _“Robots_.”

* * *

 

 

Three weeks of tutoring. That was six meetups in the library.

 

“Okay, Portia, try this problem.”

 

Portia looked down at her notebook, scratching at the paper for a moment before looking up. “Okay, done.”

 

Ariana looked at it. “That’s right,” she said.

 

“I know,” Portia answered, smirking.

 

“Shut up.”

 

Portia laughed.

 

Ariana paused. She had been trying to figure out how to broach the subject, since the last few times…

 

“Hey, Portia. You know you haven’t gotten anything wrong today…”

 

“I know! I’ve really improved, huh?”

 

“Yeah, you have. So...you pretty much have this down.”

 

In fact, she had it down two tutoring sessions ago. Portia was bombing calculus, and it took her two tutoring sessions to fix it. More evidence that maybe Ariana had been wrong about her.

 

Okay, not maybe. Definitely.

 

Portia shrugged. “Maybe.”

 

Ariana bit her lip. “So why are we still doing this? If you don’t need anymore help?”

 

“Maybe I just liked hanging out with you,” Portia answered.

 

Ariana blinked. And blinked again.

 

“Wait...seriously?”

 

Portia pretended to be more interested in the thermos of tea she had brought with her, taking a sip. But Ariana could see a smile playing at her lips.

 

“If you don’t want to, though…” Portia trailed off, smacking her lips slightly, leaving a lipstick smudge on the thermos.

 

“No! I do!” Ariana answered, a little too quickly. She surprised herself with the immediacy of the answer. She hadn’t even realized how much she enjoyed their tutoring sessions.

 

“Good,” Portia answered, “so that means we’re not going to stop doing them, right?”

 

“If you don’t want to, I don’t.”

 

Portia smiled softly. “Good. I definitely don’t--oh! You know what we should do?”

 

She grabbed her iPhone. “Take a selfie with me, Ria!”   


Before Ariana could answer she was getting pulled in; their cheeks were pressed together as the photo was snapped.

 

“...Why do you always do that?”

 

“What?” Portia asked, tapping away on her phone. Ariana smoothed out her hair.

 

“The selfies.”

 

Portia looked confused. “I like people.”

 

“I mean, so do--”

 

And she stopped for a split second. Because she didn’t _dislike_ people, but...she wasn’t exactly a social butterfly. Not like Portia.

 

“--a lot of people, but I still don’t see them with their phones out as much as you.”

 

“I love all my friends,” Portia said earnestly, “and I just think I’m so lucky. I mean, I’m going to a great school, and I have great friends, and right now I’m in a library drinking tea with one of them. Wouldn’t you want something to remember this by?”

 

“I like to take pictures to commemorate things. But usually, like, when I win a major award or something.”

 

“...Well, I think everything that makes me happy is equally important to remember.”

 

Ariana could honestly not fathom how a single human being could be _so pure._

 

“Besides,” Portia said innocently, “isn’t being my friend like winning a major award?”

 

Ariana could honestly not fathom how a single human being could be _so pure_ but also such a _smartass._

 

“Oh please, I’m the award,” she answered, rolling her eyes. Portia laughed, laying a hand gently on her shoulder.

 

“So should we get back to work…?”

 

“Didn’t we get sidetracked _because_ you didn’t need to do anymore work?”

 

Portia nodded. “You’re right. I guess we don’t need to have tutoring sessions anymore.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Ariana was feeling some deja vu; didn’t they just have this conversation?

 

“You know…” She said, wanting to avoid speaking in circles, “maybe next time we meet, we don’t need to do work.”

 

Portia was always smiling, but now it spread even wider. “We don’t, do we? We don’t even need to...you know, meet in the library.”

 

“Sure, that’s not a law.”

 

“Like, we could meet at the cafe in the student center…? Tomorrow? Just to hang out?”

 

Ariana nodded. “So...you want to meet tomorrow, after class, to hang out and get to know each other better.” She laughed. “Honestly, Portia, if you want to go on a date with me just say it.”

 

“Do you want to go on a date with me?”

 

Ariana choked mid-laugh. She grabbed Portia’s thermos and took a sip of tea to try and get herself to overcome her shock.

 

She wasn’t sure what she was more shocked about.

 

That Portia was totally into her.

 

Or that Ariana _really_ wanted to say yes.

 

“Portia--I mean--dude, _yes._ That would be awesome, I’d love to.”

 

Just could tell she was grinning like an idiot, but she didn’t care. Especially when Portia was smiling even wider, taking Ariana’s hand in hers.

 

“See? I _knew_ today would be selfie-worthy,” she teased.

 

“...I guess you were right,” Ariana answered. She blew out a breath. “Wow, I cannot believe I used to think you were some airhead.”

 

She could feel the energy of the moment change instantaneously.

 

The hand holding hers squeezed tighter for a moment before letting go, putting her hands tightly in her lap.

 

“What did you just say?”

 

“Nothing.”

 

“Did you just say you thought I was an _airhead?”_

 

Ariana, realizing she had miscalculated, attempted to backtrack.

 

“No, I don’t that that _now,_ I meant--okay, at _first,_ but that was just the initial impression--”

 

“Well, what about my ‘impression?’”

 

She was pissed--and if frowning looked wrong on Portia, red hot anger _definitely_ did.

 

“Portia, I mean, come on, you have to admit this is all a little over-the-top.”

 

“‘Over the top,” Portia responded flatly.

 

“You know…” Ariana gestured vaguely. “The clothes. And all the selfies. And the ultra peppiness. It is. A little.”

 

Portia stood; her hands still gripped the edge of the table so hard her knuckles were white.

 

“I’m not being ‘over-the-top,” she said, voice low and even, “this is how I dress,” she grabbed the fabric of her pink, fuzzy turtleneck, “and I laugh a lot. And I like selfies, and I like to have fun with my friends. So you thought that meant I must be _stupid?_ I can’t believe you’re so--so-- _shallow!”_

 

Just to add insult to injury, Portia yanked Ariana’s beanie off her head. She pulled it down on Ariana’s head, so low that it covered her eyes, before stomping off in a huff.

 

When Ariana finally pulled it off, Portia was gone, and the librarian was giving her a death glare.

* * *

 

 

“Yeah, that sounds pretty bad,” Alex agreed, “that explains a _lot,_ actually. You need to apologize.”

 

Ariana groaned, flopping down on the common room couch, covering her face with her beanie to muffle her voice. “I _know._ Was Portia really that upset?”

 

Alex sat down next to Ariana, tucking her legs under to make up for the lack of room. “Well, something was obviously bothering her, but she wouldn’t talk about it. She just locked herself in her room. You really, _really_ should apologize.”

 

“You told me that. But I highly doubt I’m on the guest list if she doesn’t want visitors.”

 

Alex shrugged. “Making an effort will at least show her you care?”

 

Ariana sat up. “What do I even say?”

 

Alex nudged her. “‘I’m sorry’ is generally a good start, you know.”

 

She sighed. “...What if she doesn’t forgive me?”

 

Alex smiled. “This is _Portia_ we’re talking about. It’s almost certainly a matter of when, not if.”

 

She was right; of course she was. It was obvious that Ariana needed to apologize. But she wasn’t very good at it; Ariana wasn’t wrong a lot in general, and she hated when it happened.

 

But she also really, really missed hanging out with Portia. So, she put her hands on her knees and pushed herself up.

 

Portia’s room was easy to spot; she stuck big foam letters on the door in different colors, spelling out her name. Ariana knocked on it.

 

“Portia?”

 

No answer.

 

Alex edged behind her. “Portia? Listen, I talked to Ariana. I am reasonably certain she won’t say anything hurtful again.”

“‘Reasonably certain?’” Ariana whispered.

 

“Well I can’t _lie,_ ” Alex replied, “I never thought you would say that stuff to Portia to begin with.”

 

She couldn’t really argue with that--and she wasn’t really in the place to argue either--so she didn’t respond.

 

After what seemed like forever--and Alex signalling to Ariana ‘wait’ whenever she tried to knock on the door again--they heard a muffled voice.

 

“Please go away.”

  
“Portia, _please_ let me apologize to you,” Ariana said.

 

“You can do it through the door. I can hear you.”

 

“Portia, at least let her do it face-to-face,” Alex said, “give her five minutes.”

 

“... _Two_ minutes.”

 

Alex looked at Ariana. “I’ll give you both her space. Remember; communication.”

 

“Wait, wait, Al--”

 

She had already walked off. Ariana swallowed, looked back at the door, and opened it.

 

The room was, unsurprisingly, colorful. The walls were covered in posters, some of which seemed to have no reason to be there. The motivational poster of a cat hanging from a branch made perfect sense; the movie poster for _Lethal Weapon_ was, at the very least, kind of random.

 

Then Ariana’s eye was drawn to the far wall. There was a big collections of playbills, all tacked to it with different colored thumb tacks. And, underneath it, was Portia’s bed. At first she didn’t even see Portia; she was almost hidden by a pile of stuffed animals, all of assorted sizes.

 

“Uh...Portia?”

 

She finally sat up, pouting, phone in hand and a beanie baby falling into her lap that had been resting on her head.

“You come into _my room--_ ”

 

“Whoa, whoa, you agreed! I just came to say I was sorry!”

 

Portia glared at her, putting her phone down. Ariana could see that she was on instagram. There was a photo of Portia taking a selfie, pouting surrounding by all of her stuffed animals.

 

“Fine, I promised you two minutes.”

 

“Okay. Okay. So--well--” Ariana flailed for words; the time limit had a way of making her suddenly forget everything she was supposed to say. “First of all, I’m...really, really stupid.”

 

Portia nodded. “That’s not a terrible start.”

 

“I’m really stupid. And the irony of thinking you were a shallow person, because I was being shallow, is definitely not lost on me.”

 

Portia grabbed unable beanie baby, a stuffed raccoon, and started squeezing it in her hand like a stress ball.

 

“I am sorry for judging you. That was wrong. Because you are actually just a really nice, genuine person who is really smart and--and not even smarter than you look, because how you look shouldn’t matter! I don’t blame you for being pissed. I just hope you can forgive me even if you don’t want to go out with me?”

 

Portia still didn’t look happy. But she also didn’t look like she wanted to kill her. So that was good.

 

“...You’re not the first person to think that about me,” Portia said, voice soft. Ariana bit her lip, risking sitting down on the bed, still keeping her distance.

 

“Portia--”

 

“I thought maybe in college people would take me more seriously. I’m an adult. I get good grades, I do sports, I managed to get into the best sorority. But apparently nothing I _do_ matters. I can be the smartest, most talented person in the world and because I like to dress in cute outfits and take pictures and collect stuffed animals, I am just a Barbie doll. So…” She blew out a breath, “maybe I was a little sensitive. But I just...I’ve heard that before. And I guess I just kind of got tired of it and took it out on you. I’m sorry, Ria.”

Ariana stared at Portia, with her bow headband, and her beanie babies, and her uncharacteristically defeated expression.

 

“Portia, you know what? _Fuck them._ ”

 

Portia’s eyes widened and she was shocked out of her moping. “What?”

 

“Seriously, fuck them. They’re idiots. I am really, _really_ glad I’m no longer one of them. You take advanced lit. All of your selfies are literally flawless-- _you’re_ literally flawless. Anyone who thinks you have no substance is just jealous. And--and you know what? Barbie has had like fifty jobs. It’s not even a good insult. They _wish_ they were Barbie. Okay?”

 

“You really mean that…?”

 

“Yes. I really do.”

 

A small smile spread across Portia’s face.

 

“Thank you, Ria. You went over two minutes, but I’ll give you a pass.”

 

“Thanks. So...I mean...yeah…” She stood up. “I’ll give you some space.”

 

She started to move toward the door. Portia followed her.

 

“Wait for me.”

 

Ariana turned around. “What?”

 

“You didn’t think you were going to leave without me, right?”

 

“I--kind of? I didn’t think you would--I mean I know I apologized, but--”

 

“I’m not saying I still want to go on a date with you,” Portia clarified. Ariana slumped slightly. Wishful thinking.

 

“ _But,_ I will totally put you on, like...dating probation. Because you are really cute when you’re trying to apologize even though you kinda obviously haven’t done it much.”

 

Ariana didn’t trust herself to speak--this was the part she messed up last time--so she nodded.

“Also, I only require one caveat.”

 

“Anything.”

 

“We are watching _Legally Blonde,_ ” Portia smirked, “since I think it might be kind of educational for you. It’s all about not judging books by their covers.”

 

Ariana rolled her eyes good naturedly. “I mean, if I _have to,_ sure.”

 

Portia took Ariana’s hand to lead her out of the room. Ariana stopped.

 

“Wait!”

 

She turned and grabbed Portia’s phone.

 

“Say cheese?” Ariana asked, smiling sheepishly.

 

Portia laughed. She put her chin on Ariana’s shoulder.

 

“Okay. But what’s the special occasion that you save all your selfies for?”

 

“You’re right. I just won a major award.”

 

They looked at each other, beaming as Ariana snapped the photo. She kind of loved selfies now.


End file.
